Australian News

Australia: In defence of professionals: Navigating the peer professional opinion defence

November 1, 2013

The ‘peer professional opinion defence’ was introduced by tort law reforms in each of the Australian states a decade ago.

Surprisingly, there have been few reported cases concerning the defence since then. While it is most commonly raised in medico-legal claims, the ‘peer professional opinion defence’ has wider application when defending pure economic loss claims against all professional people.

Professionals who are sued in negligence may have a defence to claims if it is established that their actions are widely endorsed as competent by a body of their peers, and the peer opinion is not unreasonable or irrational.